Pesticides in colas again

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Aug 03, 2006, 12.06 AM IST

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NEW DELHI: The pesticides controversy in colas resurfaced again on Wednesday, with the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) announcing a new study which alleged the presence of a “pesticide cocktail” in 11 brands of soft drink giants, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo.

The CSE said that the new findings were the result of a study where 57 samples of 11 soft drink brands of Coca-Cola and PepsiCo collected from 25 manufacturing units across 12 states, were tested. It also added that all the bottles studied contained a “cocktail of 3-5 different pesticides” which was 24 times above the standards finalised by Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS).

The cola companies strongly denied the allegations. A statement by the Indian Soft drink Manufacturers Association, of which both Pepsi and Coca Cola are members, issued on Wednesday said, “Consumer safety is paramount to us.

The soft drinks manufactured in India comply with stringent international norms and all applicable national regulations. Over the past three years, the soft drink industry has worked with the Government of India (ministry of health and Bureau of Indian Standards), Scientific Community and NGO’s to establish stringent science based norms.”

Three years ago, CSE had come out with a similar study which claimed that the same brands contained pesticides. “We have found pesticide residue in all soft drinks tested. Three years ago, when the tests were conducted we could spot only four pesticides. This time it has increased to five in some cases,” CSE Director Sunita Narain told reporters.The study also adds that on the average it was found that Pepsi Cola contained 30 times higher residues than the permitted levels, while for on an 27 times higher than the limit.

Interestingly, in the 2003 study, residues found in all the samples was 11.85 parts per billion, which is 24 times higher than the BIS standards for pesticides in softdrinks (0.5 ppb),but the NGO said that this could be taken as a marginal reduction”.

“This is clearly unacceptable as we know that pesticides are tiny toxins and impact our bodies over time. Our soft drinks remain unsafe and unhealthy and public health remains severely compromised,” said Narain.

She also added that the fresh study was conducted by the same Pollution Monitoring Laboratory of CSE, which has conducted the 2003 tests after acquiring ISO 9001:2000 standards. “This will silence the criticism raised by Cola companies that we are not competent enough to carry out such tests.”

(This article was originally published in The Times of India)

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